Resources

This page is work in progress and we will add links to resources regularly. Do get in touch and alert us to material you feel would be useful to share on user focused mental health research contact@mcpin.org

If you are looking for information on public involvement in research including user controlled research, a useful resource site with publications and guidance is provided by the NIHR INVOLVE. This includes a jargon buster defining terms like randomised control trail, action research or steering group.

We chair a group of organisations interested in funding mental health research. The Alliance of Mental Health Research Funders has produced a manifesto to outline priorities for improving the research base in mental health. You can find out about the work of all the alliance members by visiting their website.

The Service User Research Enterprise (SURE) at Kings College London, Institute of Psychiatry is run by Europe’s first senior lecturer in User-Led Research. SURE undertakes research that tests the effectiveness of services and treatments from the perspective of people with mental health problems and their carers. It aims to involve service users in a collaborative way in the whole research process: from design to data collection, through to data analysis and dissemination of results.http://www.kcl.ac.uk/iop/depts/hspr/research/ciemh/sure/index.aspx

If you want to find out about large-scale current mental health research a useful resource is the NIHR mental health portal. There are lots of resources for public and patient involvement including case studies and a budgeting guide.

Survivor Research Network is part of NSUN the National Service User Network and they have recently carried out some scoping work with people with lived experience of mental distress and an interest in research. The network supports survivor researchers.http://www.nsun.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/survivor-researcher-network/

Suresearch is a network of service users in research and evaluation based in Birmingham. They aim to influence the quality, ethics and values of mental health research and education by linking with other local, regional and national partnerships in the mental health arena.http://www.suresearch.org.uk/

The Public Involvement Impact Assessment Frameworkhas been developed to help researchers assess the impacts of involving members of the public in their research across diverse fields from health care to local history. It was funded by a grant from the UK Medical Research Council and was produced by a collaboration of academics, public involvement facilitators from NIHR Research Networks and members of the public.